Attorney: Death-row inmate's clemency likely because he 'lives out' remorse

(CNN) - Samuel David Crowe, who was granted clemency a few hours before his scheduled execution, probably was spared because he showed remorse for committing murder, his attorney said Friday.

Crowe was to be executed by lethal injection at 7 p.m. Thursday at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, 45 minutes south of Atlanta.

About 4:30 p.m., his attorney, Ann Forts, was notified by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles that the sentence had been changed to life without the possibility of parole.

"I think that's all a piece of this story of remorse," Forts said Friday. "It's not just that he said, 'Oh, I feel bad.' It's that he has lived a life that has been designed to atone for what he did. Not only does he say he's remorseful, he lives out that remorse every day in a way that can be proven to them."